Vin Diesel, suddenly a hot commodity in Hollywood, is a stereotypical action hero. Diesel is muscular and has a commanding voice. With a modern, brash attitude that simply emanates from every glance, the guy is simply made for one-dimensional tough guy characters. His latest, the revenge flick \A Man Apart,"" is yet another disappointing entry into the action genre. Diesel lacks the ability to convey any significant emotion. Combine this with an ending that is unsatisfactory at best and the audience is left with a film that had the potential but fails to be the solid popcorn flick it wishes it could be.
Being a revenge movie, ""A Man Apart"" has a fairly straightforward plot. Drug Enforcement Agency agent Sean Vetter (Diesel) is going after ??ber-drug lord Meno Lucero (Geno Silva). After a seven-year hunt, Vetter finally raids Lucero's Tijuana operations and sends Lucero to prison. Lucero fulfills his obligations as a bad guy and vows revenge before heading to prison. It isn't long until Vetter's wife is killed. Meanwhile, another drug lord named Diablo has swooped in and taken over the scene once dominated by Lucero. Faced with a murky path to finding Diablo's identity, Vetter grows more and more frustrated until he finally beats a suspect to death.
The most bothersome aspect of the movie is not the stock story, which is a pretty standard cop-out-for-revenge plot. Nor is it the paper-thin performance of Vin Diesel, who continues to ride on characters requiring little to no real acting from him. Diesel, a former bodyguard, really doesn't need to try too hard to act like the badasses he so often plays. Furthermore, the film is surprisingly well-shot and choreographed. Unlike ""XXX,"" ""A Man Apart"" is shot nicely and doesn't overstep the bounds of realistic action. It's fun to look at and there is never a moment where the action is jarringly ridiculous.
Rather, the flaw of ""A Man Apart"" is that it establishes very little logic or continuity. Several scenes are apparently meant to serve up more action and nothing else. The motivations for each character's actions are frequently non-existent, making the audience wonder why such a scene would be written in the first place. A satisfying end payoff is integral to a good revenge film. This one leaves the audience disappointed.
""A Man Apart"" starts out with plenty of promise but wastes a lot of it before the final credits roll.
